trousers

noun
/ˈtɹaʊzəz/UK/ˈtɹaʊzɚz/US

Etymology

Attested since the 1610s, from the earlier form trouzes (attested since the 1580s), extended from trouse (1570s), with plural ending typical of things in pairs, from Middle Irish triubus (“close-fitting shorts”), from Old Irish tribus, of uncertain origin. The unexplained intrusive second -r- is perhaps due to the influence of drawers. Doublet of trews (“trousers”). Old Irish tribus is probably a borrowing of Anglo-Norman tribuz, trebuz, from Old French trebus, from Old Occitan trebucs, trabucs, from Late Latin trabrugi, tribuces, tubruci (“leg-coverings”), from an early Germanic language, likely Gothic *𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌺𐍃 (*þiuhbrōks), from Proto-Germanic *þeuhabrōks (“loincloth, trousers”), from Proto-Germanic *þeuhą (“thigh”) + *brōks (“leggings, trousers”), thus making it by surface analysis, thigh + breeches. Cognate with Old High German diohbruoh (“loincloth, trousers”), whence obsolete German Diechbruch (“short legwear, knee breeches, loincloth”).

  1. derived from *þeuhą — “thigh
  2. derived from *þeuhabrōks — “loincloth, trousers
  3. derived from trabrugi
  4. derived from trebucs
  5. derived from trebus
  6. derived from tribuz
  7. derived from tribus
  8. derived from triubus — “close-fitting shorts

Definitions

  1. An article of clothing that covers the part of the body between the waist and the ankles…

    An article of clothing that covers the part of the body between the waist and the ankles or knees, and is divided into a separate part for each leg.

    • The trousers need to be shortened.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at trousers. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01trousers02leg03knee04humans05human06sapiens07homo08homogenized09longer10longs

A definitional loop anchored at trousers. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at trousers

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA